Conviction of Jessica Williams is upheld

Friday, Aug. 2, 2002 | 11:08 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court today upheld the conviction of Jessica Williams, found guilty of the traffic death of six teenagers working alongside Interstate 15 near Las Vegas.

The court, in a unanimous decision written by Justice Myron Leavitt, rejected several arguments by a defense attorney including one that the law of driving with marijuana in her blood was unconstitutional. Williams was convicted of six counts of driving with a prohibited substance in her blood, one count of use of a controlled substance and one count of possession of a controlled substance.

The 23-year-old former exotic dancer was sentenced to 18 to 48 years in prison.

Through her lawyer John Watkins, Williams argued that the 1999 law was invalid. It makes it a felony for any driver to have more than 2 nanograms per milliliter of the marijuana byproduct THC in his or her blood or urine.

Williams had 5.5 nanograms in her blood, according to the tests after the accident.

Leavitt said the Legislature followed the lead of nine other states and created a per se drug violation similar to the alcohol law in which a person who has a .10 level in the blood is considered to be a drunken driver.

"We have previously recognized traffic safety as a rational basis for upholding statutes that regulate the use of substances that may impair a person's ability to drive," said the court.

Leavitt wrote, "We conclude that the government interest in maintaining safe highways is sufficient for our prohibited substance statute to survive a constitutional attack on the basis that it impermissibly treats drivers with the proscribed levels of illicit drugs in their system differently from others." Leavitt suggested those who don't like the law should approach the Legislature to change it.

Williams, through her lawyer, claimed that a small amount of marijuana doesn't result in a person being impaired, and argued the law was invalid. But the court said the law is "related to legitimate governmental objectives."

Williams maintained she had used marijuana before the accident but was not impaired when her car, traveling at about 75 miles an hour, went off Interstate 15 and plowed into the youngsters who were part of a juvenile detention crew cleaning up the road.

Court documents said that Williams was returning to Las Vegas from the Valley of Fire on March 19, 2000 after staying up all night, using marijuana.

She also admitted she used the designer drug "ecstasy" on the evening prior to the collision. Williams maintained she fell asleep at the wheel.

Killed were Scott Garner Jr., 14; Alberto Puig, 16; Anthony Smith, 14; Rebeccah Glicken, 15; Malena Stoltzfus, 15 and Jennifer Booth, 16. After the crash, Williams voluntarily turned over her marijuana pipe to police which contained marijuana. She was also in possession of a plastic bag of marijuana.

The court also rejected her arguments that she should have been allowed to raise the argument at trial that Clark County was negligent in failing to set up warning signs at the site.

She said authorities also failed to refrigerate her blood samples and that constituted destruction of evidence. And she said the trial court should have suppressed the blood evidence. Watkins, the defense lawyer, complained the state failed to preserve the blood samples of Williams so he could do his own test to determine the level of THC.

The test was performed but then Watkins learned the blood sample had not been refrigerated so there was a possibility of contamination. But Leavitt said the defense did not request a retest of her blood sample for more than 10 months after it was drawn.

"We conclude that the district court properly determined that Williams failed to show the non-refrigeration constituted a due process violation," said the court.

In another ruling issued this morning, the court also upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Fernando Hernandez, sentenced to death for the stabbing of his ex-wife Donna in Clark County. And he was found guilty of the second degree kidnapping of his three-year-old daughter Ana immediately after the murder.

The court said, "We perceive no basis to set aside this decision.

"Hernandez stalked his wife; murdered her without provocation in a horrific, savage manner; and did so in the presence of her and his own young daughter," said the court.

Hernandez was angry that Donna made friends with Francisco Landeros. But they did not have a romantic relationship. The court rejected the argument there was jury misconduct in that three jurors had bought a present for the daughter. It said there was no showing of prejudice by the jurors.